Poem
Cees Nooteboom
cauda
Look at things, see themin their metaphysical innocence,
not certain they exist.
Remember that discussion
in the bower, Nordic summer,
hydrangeas, the essential frog,
roses, masks.
Incense without a church.
A butterfly flies up in China
and changes a stormfront in Finland.
Someone said it. You were silent.
This you already knew.
When do paintings shed
the painter, when does the same matter become
a different thought? The evening fog stole across
the grass, drowned lawn, fountain,
windows.
Music, the splash of oars.
Someone turns on the light, someone
has no faith in dusk.
The question without answer
drifts around the house.
© Translation: 1997, Sun & Moon Press
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
cauda
cauda
Kijk naar de dingen, zie ze staanin hun metafysische onschuld,
niet zeker van hun bestaan.
Herinner je het gesprek
in een prieel, een noordelijke zomer,
hortensia’s, het gelijk van een kikker,
rozen, maskers.
Wierook zonder een kerk.
Een vlinder die opvliegt in China
verandert een stormvlaag in Finland.
Iemand zei het, jij zweeg.
Dit was wat je al wist.
Wanneer ontdoen schilderijen zich
van de schilder, wanneer wordt dezelfde materie
een andere gedachte? De avondnevel sloop over
het grasveld, verdronk de laan, de fontein,
en het huis.
Muziek, geplas van riemen.
Iemand doet het licht aan, iemand
gelooft niet in de schemer.
De vraag zonder antwoord dwaalt
langs het raam.
© 1998, Atalanta Pers
From: Zo kon het zijn
Publisher: Atalanta Pers, Baarn
From: Zo kon het zijn
Publisher: Atalanta Pers, Baarn
Poems
Poems of Cees Nooteboom
Close
cauda
Look at things, see themin their metaphysical innocence,
not certain they exist.
Remember that discussion
in the bower, Nordic summer,
hydrangeas, the essential frog,
roses, masks.
Incense without a church.
A butterfly flies up in China
and changes a stormfront in Finland.
Someone said it. You were silent.
This you already knew.
When do paintings shed
the painter, when does the same matter become
a different thought? The evening fog stole across
the grass, drowned lawn, fountain,
windows.
Music, the splash of oars.
Someone turns on the light, someone
has no faith in dusk.
The question without answer
drifts around the house.
© 1997, Sun & Moon Press
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
cauda
Look at things, see themin their metaphysical innocence,
not certain they exist.
Remember that discussion
in the bower, Nordic summer,
hydrangeas, the essential frog,
roses, masks.
Incense without a church.
A butterfly flies up in China
and changes a stormfront in Finland.
Someone said it. You were silent.
This you already knew.
When do paintings shed
the painter, when does the same matter become
a different thought? The evening fog stole across
the grass, drowned lawn, fountain,
windows.
Music, the splash of oars.
Someone turns on the light, someone
has no faith in dusk.
The question without answer
drifts around the house.
© 1997, Sun & Moon Press
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
From: The Captain of the Butterflies
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